


sandalwood

by markhyuck



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Domestic, Established Relationship, Fluff, Jealousy, M/M, soft boyfriends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-08
Updated: 2019-01-08
Packaged: 2019-10-06 16:38:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,744
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17348759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/markhyuck/pseuds/markhyuck
Summary: Maybe it's the look in his eyes. Mark always looks a little more protective whenever they kiss like this, drawing Donghyuck closer by the waist and nipping at his his bottom lip every so often.





	sandalwood

The sky is alight with purple flames.

 

Donghyuck stirs slowly, and the first sensation that comes to him is the quiet scent of sandalwood. Not much, just a hint in the body wash that his boyfriend uses.

It's nice. Pleasant.

It's been a while since he's been able to wake up like this. He feels warm and snug, unlike the chill he's been feeling most winter mornings, having to draw the duvet closer around him.

He smiles when his boyfriend's arms tighten around his torso, nuzzles his nose into the crook of Mark's neck and deeply inhales the comfortable, familiar scent.

It takes a while before he fully comes to; Mark's hand slipped under his shirt to rub warm circles onto his back is soothing enough to almost lull Donghyuck back to sleep. But a few kisses are landed on the top of his head, gentle pecks pressed to the strands of his hair, and Donghyuck hums, leaning closer to search for more.

He finds Mark already wide awake, large doe eyes wide and alert. He's still rubbing Donghyuck's back rhythmically, but his eyes are fixed on a point outside the window, eyes ablaze with the same light of the sunrise.

Donghyuck smiles blearily, watching the colours reflected in the older's eyes shift with the morning sky. "It's so early, Mark."

As if on cue, Mark lets out a loud yawn, to which Donghyuck snorts, but it is cut off by a huge, unattractive yawn of his own.

Mark finds it attractive anyway, if the way his head falls back on the pillow and laughs is any indication to go by.

"Geez, Markus," Donghyuck tuts. "You're so loud, first thing in the morning."

"What did I say about calling me that?" Mark sits up slowly, prompting a whine from the smaller as he slides off. Mark dodges his boyfriend's grabby hands, scooting out of bed to pad over to the bathroom.

Donghyuck shrugs, huffing. " _And_ your breath stinks!"

Mark shoots him a pout, disappearing into the bathroom. The sound of running water starts soon after. Donghyuck just grins like a Cheshire cat, stretching languidly before hopping off the bed to join his boyfriend at the sink and brush his teeth.

"You take up so much space," Donghyuck complains again, squeezing himself in the practically non-existent gap between Mark and the sink, nestling himself in his boyfriend's arms. Mark just rolls his eyes, eliciting a yelp from the younger when he pinches his side.

Donghyuck does have to scoot aside for Mark to gargle, though, when Mark's chest presses against his back, threathening, with a look through the mirror, to spit his mouthful of mint toothpaste all over him.

Donghyuck hates mint.

It's a while before they manage to get washed up and fresh, what with Donghyuck making the most of the early morning to be as annoying as possible, and Mark being as dismissive as possible.

It's normal. Routine. It's how they always have been, and how they always will be. The only difference, now that they're dating, is the light kiss Mark plants on Donghyuck's forehead after each eye roll. A silent reassurance that he treasures the younger boy.

"What do you want to do today?" Donghyuck's voice take on a hopeful lilt, his eyes widening to form any semblance of Mark's most hated, "Puppy eyes. Argh, stop doing that. I'm going to get an eye infection."

The younger just pouts harder, and Mark crumbles visibly, his eyes zeroed in on his boyfriend's lips.

"Fine," the taller mumbles, leaning in for a kiss, but Donghyuck scoots back cheekily, back hitting the wall. Mark isn't having any of the teasing today, and, with a glint in his eye, swoops in to press against Donghyuck, capturing his lips.

The kiss is a bit more heated than Donghyuck would have liked for it barely being 7am in the morning, but it's not entirely unwelcome. He delights in the feeling of Mark's lips slotting against his, curling his fingers over Mark's shoulder. He lifts a hand up to card through his boyfriend's hair, destroying any hope of Mark's hurried five-second styling staying off and above his forehead.

Donghyuck likes his boyfriend's hair better this way. When they have to break apart for air, panting in synchronisation with mirrored, hazy smiles on their faces, Mark's messy brown locks fall over his eyes, making him look wicked and somehow still very much like _home_ , soft and loving.

Or maybe it's the look in his eyes.

Mark always looks a little more protective whenever they kiss like this, drawing Donghyuck closer by the waist and nipping at his his bottom lip every so often, just to hear Donghyuck's voice, sometimes a whine, other times a low growl.

Oh, Donghyuck is _alive_.

 

"So, how about the Atrium, baby?"

(The Atrium is just about the most unromantic place on the planet. It's the lobby of a large, mostly run-down mall teeming with people. It's always busy, and Donghyuck can never get a kiss out of his boyfriend when they're both occupied with 'excuse me's and 'sorry, you're in the way's.

But that's where they'd met. One hot summer's day, Donghyuck had taken refuge in the Atrium from the sweltering heat of the outdoors, and almost immediately bumped into Mark.

 

Mark's first words to him were just about the most unromantic on the planet.

"Excuse me," he'd said, lips almost tugged into a pout. "Do you come here often?"

Donghyuck stared.

"Wait! I didn't mean it that way. I'm just, uh, looking for this one store and I can't seem to find it?"

 

Donghyuck's first words to Mark were just about the most unromantic on the planet.

"Yeah," he drawled lazily, pointing Mark in the right direction, which was up. "S'there. You're in the right spot on the wrong floor."

Mark stared as Donghyuck wiped a bead of perspiration from his brow.

"You're hot." It was a statement.

Donghyuck had leaned closer conspiratorially then, a flirty smile playing at his lips as he sent Mark a wink. "Thanks for noticing, hot stuff."

"...Wait, I didn't mean it like that. You're perspiring.")

 

The Atrium is a place Donghyuck cherishes a lot.

It has somehow become he and Mark's special place, the default meetup point before any crazy rendezvous or for a casual dinner date. Perhaps the most unromantic place on the planet, but to them, one filled with memories of times spent together. Donghyuck was both hoping and expecting Mark to suggest it.

"Of course the Atrium. Where else?"

Mark just smiles, turning to grab his winter jacket and wallet. Donghyuck follows him out the door happily, listening as Mark drones on about about an annoying university class that he's had to take recently.

Wholly unromantic. Donghyuck loves it.

 

 

When they get to the Atrium, most of the stores aren't even open yet. They settle for a quaint little breakfast café tucked away in a small corner of the Atrium. Its store front says _DREAM_ in huge, fancy calligraphy across the window.

It's the only store in the mall that isn't always overflowing with people, and where Donghyuck pulls Mark into on most days if he's feeling hungry for a kiss.

Or a waffle. That, too.

_DREAM_ is only empty because of the sheer price of its food.

"Welcome to _DREAM_ , premium quality waffles!" Renjun says, as they walk in. Mark and Donghyuck's favourite staff member is busy at the cash register, sorting the dollar notes, so they wait patiently till he looks up, a bright smile on his face and ready to serve them.

His smile dims immediately upon catching sight of them. "You two again? I'm not giving you guys my staff discount any more, my boss is going to kill—"

"Please?" Mark says.

Donghyuck loves _DREAM_ 's waffles maybe a little too much, and they're too expensive to afford on a regular basis without the staff discount. So maybe, just maybe, Mark will do much to spoil him.

Renjun looks a bit surly as he opens the register and holds out his palm. Of _course_ he would give in to a single plead from Mark. "That will be thirty dollars and sixty-five cents. Your usual table at the back is empty, so please, just sit there and out of my sight. If I have to see you two kissing again..."

Renjun grumbles all the way as Donghyuck and Mark engage in a tiny scuffle, fighting to pay for the waffles, before Donghyuck wins and triumphantly hands Renjun extremely rumpled bills which amount to exactly thirty.

"Sixty-five cents," Renjun grumbles again, palm still outstretched.

This time, Mark beats Donghyuck to getting out his coins, despite sporting an already-blossoming bruise on his arm where the younger quite literally punched him to slow him down.

Donghyuck punches him again.

 

"Idiots. Collect your waffles yourself later, I'm not sending them over to you."

 

Their usual order arrives in the form of a triple-layered waffle topped with an abundance of whipped cream, and a scoop of macademia-dotted vanilla ice cream.

But the best thing isn't exactly the waffle set itself. It's the slow jazz playing overhead, the sweet aroma of the breakfast café, and most of all the warmth that Mark's skin bleeds into Donghyuck's as they sit, thigh to thigh, sharing the waffles, their jackets lying forgotten on the loveseat opposite theirs.

The first time they'd visited _DREAM_ was one month into their relationship, when they were still testing the boundaries of their newfound attraction and Mark wanted to impress the younger.

Donghyuck fell. For the waffles, for the quaint charm of the café, and for Mark's sincerity. It was the first time he let Mark wind his arm around his waist without shying away.

For someone as bold as Donghyuck, who was always seeking out any form of affection, it had been surprising how shy he was at the start when it came to intimacy—Mark supposed it had to do with the fact that he was always rejected when he became clingy, and so his advances being reciprocated was a whole new territory of uncertainty for him.

They'd stayed for hours, until they could no longer pretend they were still eating and were subsequently kicked out by Renjun (whom they hadn't befriended yet, then). Mark walked Donghyuck home that day, and had kissed him, slow and sweet, until he'd made it clear that he was serious about this relationship.

Donghyuck heard him loud and clear.

 

They've been coming back ever since, _DREAM_ being almost as essential to their relationship as the Atrium is.

The younger sighs contentedly through a mouthful of waffles as Mark squeezes his waist gently.

"Think Renjun would let us stay here the entire day?"

Donghyuck snorts, but leans closer as Mark kisses his cheek. Something about _DREAM_ 's atmosphere makes them both more affectionate. "Nah, he's nice, but not that nice."

Mark hums. His hand is on the smaller boy's thigh, thumb sliding beneath a rip in his jeans to caress the bare skin there, a habit that Mark picked up recently. The younger isn't complaining, though; the gesture is sweet, bordering possessive.

"It's cozy here though, I don't feel like moving any more. Maybe we should order that matcha latte after we finish so we can stay. We've been meaning to try it, but it's so expensive..."

Donghyuck brightens up at the suggestion, nodding. "Yeah, their matcha latte is great. Worth it, I swear. They even add cinnamon in it."

Mark's brows furrow. "Have we tried it?"

"Oh, no, I just tried it last week."

"You came alone?" Mark's frown deepens.

"Ah, I was with Jeno. He swore Renjun makes the best matcha lattes, and bought me one."

Something ugly rears up in Mark's chest.

It's _their_ special place. He hasn't come to _DREAM_ without Donghyuck. Ever. "Jeno... as in Lee Jeno?"

"Do you know another Jeno?"

There's a pause, before Mark continues slowly, something shifting in his expression. "You... used to be in love with him. For years."

"Yes, that one."

"And you came here with him?"

Donghyuck's beginning to see the reason for the irritated crinkles on Mark's forehead now, the way his boyfriend's arm has retracted from around his waist. His expression is shifting rapidly from fond to something less than pleasant, and Donghyuck doesn't like it. The younger squirms uncomfortably, reaching out to rest a hand on his boyfriend's arm tentatively.

"Babe, we were just hanging out. Nothing happened, I promise."

"Oh, _yeah_?"

Mark doesn't do sarcasm. His words sting, and Donghyuck physically recoils, mind reeling. "Oh... yeah...?"

A flicker of doubt flashes in Mark's eyes, and it stings even harder than any hurtful words he can throw at the younger. It's been three years since they started dating, and yet Donghyuck has never quite been able to quash the insecurity that his boyfriend harbours deep within the crevasses of his heart. _The fear of not being good enough._

It's an ugly thing, factually unbased and emotionally piercing, and they both know it.

Donghyuck thinks back to the time he'd introduced them to each other. Mark had liked Jeno, until a few weeks later when he stumbled across an old photo of Donghyuck sitting on Jeno's lap. Kissing. How his expression had crumbled immediately, knowing how close they still were.

Knowing that a part of Donghyuck's heart still belonged to Jeno. That Jeno was his first love.

That was the first time Donghyuck had seen Mark cry.

Someone as strong as Mark had let Donghyuck worm his way so deep into his heart that a tiny trigger of the past sent his walls crashing down all around the younger.

It had taken a while, and Donghyuck holding his hand and promising over and over that he loved Mark, for the taller male to calm down. For a week, and maybe Donghyuck noticed but pretended not to, Mark held his hand tighter, hugged him a little closer.

He still does whenever Jeno is around.

So now all Donghyuck sees is the hurt written all over his boyfriend's face, even when it is masked behind a world of anger that looks alien on him.

More than anything, it's the fear of losing Donghyuck.

"Mark..." Donghyuck sighs softly. He takes a deep breath, throwing his pride aside as he scoots closer, ignoring the soft scoff Mark makes under his breath, yet loud enough for Donghyuck to hear. _To wound in return. A self-defense mechanism._ He ignores it all.

Donghyuck clasps his hands around Mark's, staring steadily into his eyes. His lips move silently for a moment, unsure how to start, until he sighs and throws caution to the wind, plunging into the stream of consciousness that only screams _Mark, Mark, Mark_.

"Mark you know that I'm with you now, and I will always be. Whatever happened was in the past, and it was what I wanted at that time but now I can only see a rewritten future with you. So please... don't forget everything I've ever felt about you, and still feel, just because I spared Jeno a glance again. Please don't forget, Mark."

Mark's lips part. The quietness in Donghyuck's voice is rare, and the younger can almost see the cogs in his boyfriend's brain turn as he clings to every word, every drip of kindness that he deigns to share.

Donghyuck casts a look outside the window, feeling the tension between them lay thickly on every surface in the café. The sun is high in the sky now. A moment passes before he can gather the courage to speak again.

It's barely audible, and despite having such a lasting relationship, the words are a rare occurrence between them. It's more than a promise, something like a pledge. It's almost an oath.

"I love you."

Mark's eyes soften, gaze searching the younger's wonderingly.

After a while, he seems to find what he's looking for and, satisfied, drops his gaze, having at least some decency to look ashamed of himself.

Belatedly, he realises that he has been gripping Donghyuck's hand tight enough to hurt, and he lets go immediately, only to pull his boyfriend into his arms, wrapping them around his smaller frame, just shy of possessive.

Mark's words are muffled as he presses a chaste kiss onto the top of his boyfriend's head.

"I love you too."

 

If Mark holds his hand a little tighter, hugs him a little closer, Donghyuck pretends not to notice.

**Author's Note:**

> i wrote this in record speed
> 
> give my [winkun](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17259404) fic some love as well!


End file.
